Names from 13th Century Northumberland

by Sara L. Uckelman (known in the SCA as Aryanhwy merch Catmael)

Introduction

The following names of roughly 1070 men and women are from the Assize Roll of Northumberland, 40 Henry III. (A.D. 1256). Without exception, the given names of the documents are Latinized. The bynames, depending on their type, are either in Latin or in the vernacular. Relational bynames, such as 'son of', 'wife of', etc., are generally all in Latin. Locative bynames use the Latin preposition de, with the place name generally in the vernacular. The few descriptive bynames are in the vernacular. Occupational bynames, which are the rarest, can be either in Latin or the vernacular.

Virtually all of the women in this document are identified as the wife of someone. Oftentimes, a woman's husband has been mentioned just preceding her, and so an entry for a woman might look like Agnes uxor ejus 'Agnes, his wife'. Other times, the man's name is specified explicitly.

Feminine Given Names

Below are listed the feminine given names and women's bynames found in this document. The given names are arranged listed in their Latin nominative form, and arranged by frequencey. The bynames are sorted by frequency of type. You can also browse the raw data for this article.

The forms found in the document are Latin forms that are appropriate for Latin contexts only, e.g., written documents or some church and university settings where the spoken language was Latin. The spoken English form of the name often differed from the Latin documentary name. I have listed the expected vernacular in the final column. These vernacular forms come from Talan Gwynek, "Feminine Given Names in A Dictionary of English Surnames" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1997).

Latin form

Number

Variants

Vernacular form

Notes

Agnes

28

Agneta, Angnes

Agnes

Alicia

14

Alesia

Alice

Cristiana

13

Cristina

Christian

Matillis

11

Matild

Isabella

9

Isabel

Emma

8

Emma

Margeria

8

Margery

Alina

6

Alyna

Aline

Eva

6

Eve

Hawisia

5

Hawis

Amabilia

4

Amabillia

Amabil

Beatrix

4

Beatrix

Juliana

4

Gillian

Dionisia

3

Denis

Johanna

3

Joan

Margareta

3

Margaret

Maria

3

Mary

Rametta

3

Ramett

Cecelia

2

Cecilia

Cecily

Constancia

2

Custance

Julia

2

Mariota

2

Mariot

Marsila

2

Sibilla

2

Sibil

Alienora

1

Alienor

Diana

1

Editha

1

Edith

Elizabetha

1

Elizabeth

Ella

1

Idonea

1

Idony

Is'

1

This is probably a scribal abbreviation of Isabella.

Isolda

1

Isold ?

Lucia

1

Lucy

Mabilia

1

Mabil

Milesenta

1

Milisenta

Milisent, Milesent

Sussanna

1

Wymarc

1

Feminine Bynames

Type

Number

Examples

Meaning

uxor ejus/uxor sua

67

'wife of the previous/aforesaid'

quæ fuit uxor X

24

quæ fuit uxor Eustacii de Dalton, quæ uxor Rogeri de Hatehawes

'who is the wife of X'

uxor X

19

uxor Alani de Menyl, uxor Ricardi Moryn

'wife of X'

locative

18

de Muschaump', de Neweham, de Quenton'

'from X'

filia X

18

filia Elyæ de Hetpol', filia Margeriæ

'daughter of X'

other

7

Bertram, Briam, Goye, Paynel

soror ejus

5

'sister of the previous/aforesaid'

no byname

2

Masculine Given Names

As with the women's names, the men's given names were all recorded in Latin, and I have listed them by their standard Latin nominative form. These spellings are appropriate for Latin contexts only and do not necessarily represent the vernacular (spoken) form in use at this time. Where known, I have listed the likely vernacular form.

Latin form

Number

Variants

Vernacular form

Notes

Willelmus

165

Willielmus

Johannes

106

John

Robertus

84

Robert

Ricardus

82

Ricard, Richard

Thomas

56

Thomas

Rogerus

48

Roger

Walterus

43

Walter

Adam

41

Adam

Hugo

25

Hugh

Simon

22

Simon

Gilbertus

19

Gilbert

Alanus

18

Allanus

Alan

Radulphus

17

Henricus

16

Henry

Nicholaus

15

Nicholas, Nicol

Alexander

11

Alexander

Michael

10

Michael

Galfridus

9

Ranulphus

8

Elias

7

Elyas

Elis, Ellis

Petrus

7

Stephanus

6

Patricius

4

Bartholomeæus

3

Duncanus

3

Dunkanus

Duncan, Dunkan

Fulco

3

Jacobus

3

Laurentius

3

Laurencius

Lucas

3

Utredus

3

Uttredus

Wychardus

3

Wychard'

Wydo

3

Andreas

2

Eustachius

2

Ingram

2

Martinus

2

Reginaldus

2

Sampson

2

Sampson

Turstanus

2

Turstan

Turstan

Archibaldus

1

Arkil'

1

Aylmer'

1

Bernardus

1

Carbunell'

1

Cristianus

1

Cristian, Christian

Eborardus

1

Edgerus

1

Edger

Edmundus

1

Edmund

Edulfus

1

Edulf

Edwardus

1

Edward

Edwynus

Edwyn

Engelramus

1

Ernaldus

1

Everardus

1

Godefridus

1

Godman

1

Gregorius

1

Herewardus

1

Hereward

Humfridus

1

Hutard

1

Ivo

1

Mildredus

1

Milo

1

Moyses

1

Odenellus

1

Philippus

1

Reynerus

1

Rolaund

1

Semmanus

1

Silvester

1

Totus

1

Tyok

1

Wallranus

1

Wiscardus

1

Sources:

Great Britain. Assizes (Northumberland). Three early assize rolls for the county of Nortymberland, sæc. XIII. (Durham [Eng.] Published for the Society by Andrews and Co., 1891.)